George  Washington  Flower's 
Memorial  Collection 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


ESTABLISHED  BY  THE 
FAMILY  OF 
COLONEL  FLOWERS 


The  "ATcLent  JLonging" 


ANGLICAN  COMMUNION  FOR  PEACE  AND  UNITY, 

PREACHED  BY  THE 

Kt.  Key.  HEEEY  C.  LAY,  d.  d  ,  ll.  d., 

Bishop  of  Easton, 

In  Christ  Church,  Raleigh, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  consecration  of  the 
ET.  EEY.  THEODORE  BENEDICT  LYMAJST,  D.  D., 

Assistant  Bishop  of  North  Cakolina, 
Qeoemher  11,  1878. 


BALTIMOEE : 

INNES  &  company,  book  PRINTERS, 


l|,-3. 


Tfie  "A^rdent  ZjorLgtitg" 

OF  THE 

ANGLICAN  COMMUNION  FOR  PEACE  AND  UNITY, 

PREACHED  BY  THE 

Rt.  Rev.  HENRY  C.  LAY,  d.  d.,  ll.  d., 

Bishop  of  Easton, 
In  Christ  Church,  Raleigh, 

ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  THE 

RT:  EEY.  THEODORE  BENEDICT  LYMAN,  D.  D., 

Assistant  Bishop  of  North  Cakoljna, 

(2)eoerhber  11,  1^78. 


BALTIMOKE: 

INNES  &  COMPANT.  BOOK  PRINTEKS, 
1873, 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/ardentlonging14layh 


THE  FLOWERS  COLLECTION 


JSTotica  of  ConsecrcLtioTL. 


The  consecration  of  the  Rev.  Theodore  Benedict 
Lyman,  D.  I).,  elected  as  Assistant  Bishop  of  North 
Carolina,  took  place  in  Christ  Church,  Raleigh,  on  Thurs- 
day, the  11th  day  of  December,  1873.  The  Bishops 
present  and  officiating,  were  the  Rt.  Rev.  William 
Rollinson  Whittingham,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Bishop  of 
Maryland,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  Atkinson,  D.  D.,  LL. 
D.,  Bishop  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  Henry 
Champlin  Lay,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Bishop  of  Easton. 
There  were  thirty  Clergy  in  attendance,  and  a  large 
congregation  which  completely  filled  the  Church. 

At  the  appointed  hour,  the  procession  of  Bishops  and 
Clergy  moved  from  the  Rectory  to  the  door  of  the 
Church,  and  entering  in  reverse  order,  led  by  the 
Bishop  of  Maryland,  advanced  to  the  chancel,  as  the 
old  hundredth  psalm  was  sung  to  its  own  tune.  The 
Bishops  took  their  places  within  the  railing,  and  the 
Clergy  were  arranged  in  the  stall  seats  on  either  side 
of  the  Chancel.  The  Bishop  elect  sat  in  front,  between 
his  attending  presbyters,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mason  and  the 
Rev.  D.  H.  Buel. 

Morning  Prayer  was  said  by  the  Rev.  R.  B.  Sutton 
and  the  Rev.  N.  C.  Hughes  ,••  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Huske 
reading  the  First  Lesson,  Is.  xxxv,  and  the  Rev.  James 
A.  Buck,  of  Maryland,  reading  the  Second  Lesson,  St. 
John  xvii.  After  the  singing  of  the  Fourth  Selection 
of  Psalms,  the  Bishop  of  North  Carolina  said  the  Ante- 


4 


Communion  service,  Bishop  Lay  reading  tlie  Epistle,  I. 
Tim.  iii,  and  Bishop  Wbittingham  the  Gospel,  St.  John 
XX :  1-15.  After  the  singing  of  the  104th  H.ymn,  the 
Bishop  of  Easton  preached  the  sermon. 

The  Bishop  elect  was  presented  by  the '  Bishop  of 
North  Carolina,  and  the  Bishop  of  Easton.  Testimonials 
being  demanded,  the  Certificate  of  the  election,  and  the 
Testimonials  of  the  Diocese,  and  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittees were  read  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cheshire ;  and  the 
Certificate  of  the  assent  of  the  Bishops,  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Smedes.  The  Litany  was  said  by  Bishop  Atkinson ; 
then  followed  the  solemn  scrutiny  by  the  Presiding 
Bishop,  and,  after  the  Bishop  elect  was  duly  robed,  the 
hymn, 

"  Come,  Holy  Ghost,  Eternal  God." 

The  venerable  Bishop  of  Maryland,  presiding  on  this 
occasion,  assisted  by  the  Bishops  of  North  Carolina  and 
Easton,  consecrated. 

The  Communion  service  proceeded,  and  the  Holy 
Communion  was  administered  to  the  Bishops  and  Clergy, 
and  a  large  number  of  the  faithful  laity. 

After  the  services,  the  procession  of  Bishops  and 
Clergy  returned  to  the  Rectory. 

It  was  much  regretted  that,  owing  to  the  unavoidable 
shortness  of  notice  of  the  consecration,  several  Bishops, 
whose  presence  was  greatly  desired  and  who  had  hoped 
to  be  present,  were  unable  to  attend. 

But  all  who  participated  in  these  services  were  most 
deeply  impressed  with  their  solemnity  and  beauty.  All 
felt  that  this  was  a  day  full  of  hope  and  promise  for  the 
Church  in  North  Carolina,  and  rejoiced  that  her  admi- 
rable and  beloved  Bishop  was  to  be  strengthened  in  his 
holy  work  by  a  worthy  coadjutor. 


SERMON. 


Holy  Father,  keep  through  thine  own  name  those  whom  thou  hast  given 
me,  that  they  may  be  one,  as  we  are. — S.  John  xvii.  11. 

Some  hours  there  are  in  the  life  of  every  saintly  man, 
Right  Reverend  Fathers,  Reverend  Brethren,  and  Brethren 
Beloved  in  the  Lord,  when  the  conviction  of  sin  fastens 
mightily  upon  him,  and  constrains  the  cry,  "  God  be  merciful 
to  me  the  sinner  ! " — houi  s  when  he  so  realizes  the  grace  and 
pity  of  his  Lord,  that  he  has  no  words  adequate  to  express  his 
gratitude  to  "  the  Son  of  God  who  loved  me  and  gave  Him- 
self for  me/' 

And  it  has  been  asked,  in  such  better  hours  as  these — hours 
of  genuine  self-searching  and  abasement,  hours  of  humble 
access  and  joy  in  God — what  becomes  of  all  your  questions 
of  words  and  names  and  law  ?  How  frivolous  at  such  a 
time  do  seem  the  controversies  of  the  day  !  Amid  the  plain- 
tive strains  of  the  De  Profundis,  or  the  sweet  melody  of  the 
NuuG  Dimittisy  what  is  it  but  a  vexation  and  a  discord  to 
make  mention  of  the  Divine  constitution  of  the  Church,  of 
the  grace  conveyed  by  its  holy  sacraments,  or  of  visible  unity 
as  the  normal  condition  of  the  great  army  of  the  elect  ?  Who 
that  is  earnestly,  lovingly,  struggling  (thus  it  has  been  said) 
to  bring  back  a  lost  man  to  God,  finds  time  to  think  about  the 
pattern  of  the  ministry  ?  Who  that  seriously  grapples  with 
the  drunkenness,  the  lewdness,  the  dishonesty  that,  all  about 
us,  are  dragging  men  down  to  hell,  has  the  patience  to  give  a 
thought  to  matters  of  mere  form  and  organism  ?  And  so  the 
Gallios  of  the  press,  the  lecture-room  and  the  platform,  would 
drive  such  enquirers  from  the  judgment-seat,  and  bid  us  heed 
the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment,  mercy  and  faith. 


6 


Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  men  have  discussed  these  ques- 
tions ecclesiastical  too  lightly,  too  bitterly,  with  an  easy 
indifference,  or  with  narrow-minded  party  ism,  divorcing  them 
from  the  great  spiritual  truths  which  underlie  them,  and  to 
which  they  owe  their  real  importance. 

But  for  all  that,  we  may  not  reduce  Evangelical  Piety  to  an 
egotism  or  an  abstraction.  David  shall  teach  us,  as  we  make 
his  penitential  psalm  our  own,  that  though  we  had  need  to 
ask  pardon  for  blood-guiltiness  itself,  we  may  not  rise  from  our 
knees  without  a  petition  for  the  Church.  The  fifty-first  Psalm 
begins  :  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God  ! — but  it  concludes : 
"  Do  good  in  thy  good  pleasure  unto  Zion." 

Our  utmost  pattern,  however,  is  not  David,  but  David's 
Lord.  Let  us  plant  ourselves  by  His  side  at  the  most  critical 
hour  of  all  His  life,  when  the  heart  was  just  broken  by 
treason,  when  the  fragrance  of  the  Eucharistic  feast  filled  all 
the  room,  when  work  was  almost  ended  and  death  was  wait- 
ing at  the  door.  Listen  to  the  High-Priestly  Prayer  wherein 
He  gave  utterance  to  the  very  travail  of  His  Soul.  The 
burden  of  it  is,  that  they  whom  the  Father  had  given  Him, 
—nor  only  they,  but  all  they  who  should  believe  on  L[im 
through  their  word — might  be  ONE. 

Presently,  in  the  garden,  He  thrice  deprecated  the  cup  of 
sorrow  ;  but  here  He  five  times  renews  the  prayer  for  the 
unity  of  His  ransomed  flock.  And  the  unity  for  which  He 
prayed  was  nothing  less  than  that  sympathy  and  unbroken 
fellowship,  that  oneness  in  will  and  work  and  purpose,  which 
belonged  to  the  Father  and  the  Son  :  as  thou.  Father,  art  in 
me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  Us.''  Can 
we,  without  irreverence,  expound  this  unity  as  being  aught 
else  than  the  very  closest  intimacy  of  which  men  are  capable  ; 
the  perfect  joining  together  of  the  Saints  in  one  mind  and  one 
judgment :  the  unbroken  integrity  of  a  body  whose  members 
continue  steadfastly  in  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship, 
and  in  the  breaking  of  bread,  and  prayers  ? 

I  do  not  propose,  on  this  occasion,  to  discuss  the  general 


7 


subject  to  which  the  text  invites  us,  but  rather  to  consider  one 
special  i)hase  of  it.  Assembled  as  we  are,  to  perpetuate  the 
Episcopal  succession :  recognizing  as  we  do  in  tlie  Episcopate 
a  centre  of  unity  :  solemnized  as  we  are  by  the  thought  that 
besides  imparting  to  a  diocese  needed  guidance  and  supervision, 
we  are  supplying  the  ligament  by  which  it  is  to  maintain  its 
living  connection  with  the  Catholic  Church  of  history,  it  may 
be  not  inappropriate  to  the  occasion  to  consider  our  own  posi- 
tion in  a  divided  Christendom. 

The  mind  and  temper  of  the  Anglican  Communion,  in  the 
matter  of  Christian  unity,  is  the  theme  we  propose  to  you. 
We  American  Chnrclirnen  may  be  content  ourselves  to  be  com- 
prehended under  the  general  term  I  have  used.  For,  thanks • 
be  to  God!  all  of  us — Britons,  Americans,  Colonists — are 
here  of  like  mind  ;  and  were  permitted  not  very  long  since  at 
Lambeth,  to  formulate  our  concord  in  words  few,  but  weighty, 
and  not  soon  to  be  forgotten. 

This  survey  of  the  general  drift  of  thought  in  our  com- 
munion concerning  Cliristian  unity  may  be  useful  to  ourselves  ; 
for  it  at  once  reminds  us  of  the  great  awakening  in  the  Church 
after  a  mournful  season  of  dullness  and  inertia  :  an  awakening 
which,  however  intermittent  and  diversified  in  its  manifesta- 
tions, has  steadily  progressed  throughout  a^  century.  The 
yearning  after  unity  has  grown  out  of  the  new  baptism  of 
love  and  zeal  wherewith  the  Holy  Ghost  has  blessed  us. 
And  should  our  words  catch  the  ear  of  the  stranger  who,  in 
no  malice  and  with  no  thought  to  bear  false  witness,  has 
written  us  down  as  self-complacent^  arrogant,  with  a  Jewish 
bitterness  of  soul  against  the  Samaritan  who  refuses  to  accept 
our  formula,  the  stranger  may  be  persuaded  that  it  is  haste 
and  misunderstanding  which  have  painted  the  Anglican 
Church  in  this  repellant  attitude  towards  tlie  rest  of  Christen- 
dom. 

I  know  that  tliis  drift  of  thought,  this  mind,  this  r^Ooq  of 
the  Church  in  a  given  age,  is  a  subtle  thing,  not  easily  to  be 
defined.    But  it  is  ever  betraying  itself  by  signs  recognized 


8 


by  thoughtful  men.  Now  it  suggests  the  themes  whereoD 
great  living  Doctors  descant  in  the  audience  of  the  learned  : 
now  it  finds  vent  in  some  generous  utterance  on  the  rare 
occasions  when  one  has  access  to  brethren  who  have  been 
estranged.  Again  we  recognize  it  teaching  men  in  controversy 
to  change  words  that  impugn  motive,  to  words  not  less  strong, 
but  far  more  peaceable,  which  affirm  the  right.  But  most  of 
all,  in  the  fraternal  gatherings  of  the  clergy,  in  the  informal 
consultations  of  the  Bishops,  when  occasion  has  brought  them 
together,  we  may  see  in  the  subjects  that  rise  spontaneously  to 
the  surface,  in  the  thoughtfalness  and  fairness  which  charac- 
terize their  talk,  how  much  the  Church's  heart  is  possessed 
with  the  desire  for  reconciliation,  and  how  earnestly  she  strives 
to  divest  herself  of  pride  and  prejudice,  as  she  confronts  the 
divisions  of  these  latter  days. 

And  now,  proceeding  to  the  theme  before  us,  we  observe: 

1.  That  the  Anglican  Communion  is  pervaded  by  a  deep 
sense  of  the  wickedness  and  mischief  of  division. 

In  the  enthusiasm  of  the  English  Reformation,  it  was  not 
easy  for  the  most  prudent  to  foresee  the  consequences 
of  innovations  which  were  even  then  deplored,  but  which 
seemed  to  find  a  ready  apology  in  the  necessities  of  the  case : 
innovations  not  designed  or  deliberately  proposed,  but  grow- 
ing out  of  the  mighty  convulsions  and  throes  of  religious 
thought  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  the  absence  of  Epis- 
copal sympathy  and  guidance. 

No  wonder  that  the  Anglican  leaders  had  largest  sympa- 
thies with  those  Continental  Churches.  They  had  striven 
together  to  throw  olf  a  yoke  of  usurpation :  they  rejoiced 
together  in  hearing  the  living  words  of  the  Evangelists,  so 
long  prisoners  in  the  obscure  dungeon  of  a  dead  tongue ;  and 
in  beholding  the  blessed  Gospel  in  its  simplicity,  rescued  from 
the  fables  that  had  overlaid  and  obscured  it.  I  see  not  how 
Cranmer  could  ignore  Melanchthon,  or  how,  in  like  circum- 
stances, any  of  us  could  refuse  sympathy  to  men  so  earnest,  or 
decline  consultation  with  men  so  learned. 


9 


As  one  traverses  the  crypts  of  Canterbury  Cathedral,  the 
past  becomes  real  and  life-like.  He  sees  the  Huguenots  fleeing 
from  the  horrors  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew :  they 
come  across  the  sea,  with  little  else  save  their  lives  and  the 
instruments  of  their  craft,  and  knock  at  the  door  of  the 
Mother  Church  of  England.  She  could  not  encamp  them  in 
her  solemn  name,  nor  divide  with  them  her  sacred  choir.  But 
she  gathered  them  under  her  wings,  and  lent  them  shelter  and 
Christian  kindness.  Their  silk-looms  are  set  up  in  her  spacious 
vaults,  and  at  even-song  the  murmur  of  their  Gallic  prayers 
and  hymns  steals  into  the  strain  of  the  white-robed  choir 
above.  Nor  when  the  emergency  was  passed,  would  she  drive 
them  forth  again ;  and  after  the  lapse  of  centuries,  still  gather 
in  that  ancient  chamber  a  remnant  who  worship  God  in  the 
language  and  after  the  tradition  of  their  fathers.  Thus  did  it 
then  appear  that  Catholic  principles  can  co-exist  with  Christian 
Love. 

But  before  an  argument  can  ^be  drawn  from  the  familiarity 
of  intercourse  which  for  a  time  prevailed  between  Anglicans 
and  other  Protestants  against  Kome,  let  us  remember  that  as 
yet  none  loved  division  for  its  own  sake.  Men  hoped  to  have 
in  France,  in  Germany,  in  Switzerland,  a  national  Church. 
The  conception  of  the  Church  as  a  mere  congeries  of  denomi- 
nations, whose  type  in  nature  is  the  Polyp,  capable  of  infinite 
division,  and  each  separated  member  presently  acquiring  all 
the  functions  of  the  whole,  was  strange  and  new.  It  was  long 
before  Churchmen  understood  that  this  was  comprehended  in 
the  claim  for  Christian  Liberty. 

Three  hundred  years  have  well  sufficed  to  exhibit  the  re- 
sults of  division  in  the  Church  of  God.  The  Church  of  Eome 
was  slow  to  set  up  a  rival  altar  in  England,  and  deferred  it 
until  Elizabeth  had  been  long  on  her  throne  :  and  separated 
from  us,  she  has  more  than  ever  erected  new  opinions  into  doc- 
trines, and  these  doctrines  into  articles  of  faith,  appalling  us 
by  the  very  wantonness  with  which  she  makes  conditions  of 
communion,  whereof  the  early  martyrs  and  fathers  never  heard 
so  much  as  the  dim  report. 


10 


For  three  hundred  years  Denominationalism  has  pursued 
its  way  :  not  without  its  triumphs,  not  without  illustrious  ex- 
amples, and  a  martyr-roll  which  the  Church  might  be  proud 
to  claim.  But  certain  results  have  inevitably  followed.  When 
we  study  the  history  of  those  communities  who  f  )llowed  Lu- 
ther, Calvin,  Zwingle,  or  of  the  English  Puritans,  we  see  that 
the  faith  has  not  been  kept,  the  heart  of  Orthodoxy  has  died 
within  them,  and  often  the  very  shell  and  appearance  of  it  is 
discarded.  Which  of  us  but  was  deeply  moved  when  that 
deputation  of  German  clergymen  sought  permission  to  enter 
the  House  of  Bishops,  that  they  might  tell  us  of  the  decay  of 
orthodoxy  which  threatened  their  people  here  in  our  midst, 
unless  some  element  of  authority  and  Catholic  consent  could 
be  brought  iu  to  fortify  them? 

We  have  learned  that  division  is  a  most  serious  obstacle  in 
the  prosecution  of  Missionary  work.  We  find  that  resources 
which,  mo§t  heedfully  economized,  are  not  more  than  adequate 
to  work  at  home,  are  frittered  away  by  division  or  lost  by  con- 
trariety. We  are  painfully  conscious  that  in  the  effort  to  seize 
strategic  points  and  to  occupy  all  the  ground,  teachers  are  has- 
tily multiplied  and  ill  sustained  :  teachers  whose  qualifications 
do  not  meet  the  requirements  of  the  age,  and  who  cannot  re- 
solve the  doubts  and  difficulties  of  intelligent  minds. 

We  have  seen  more  and  more  a  tendency  to  make  of  reli- 
gion an  opinion  rather  than  a  devotion,  or  an  enthusiasm 
rather  than  a  holy  life :  a  disposition  to  deny  the  worth  of 
authority  and  precedent,  so  highly  valued  in  all  other  depart- 
ments of  life :  so  that,  forgetful  of  the  true  story  of  the  Holy 
Books  as  written  at  divers  times  and  in  divers  manners,  for- 
getful of  the  authority  which  collected  these  various  writings, 
segregating  tlie  apocryphal  from  the  true,  witnessing,  guard- 
ing, transmitting  them  :  many  a  poor  soul  prides  himself  on 
taking  his  Bible,  as  though  in  its  English  version  an  angel 
had  brought  it  direct  to  him  from  heaven,  and  making  his 
private  interpretation  of  it  the  expression  of  the  mind  of  God. 

Of  last  year  there  has  been  a  growth  among  us  in  the 


11 


doctrine  of  the  Sacraments.  Not  that  the  great  body  of  the 
Church  has  changed  its  belief  concerning  them,  and  found 
new  formulas  necessary  to  describe  their  nature.  No;  we 
have  rather  learned  to  realize  that  they  are  what  we  always 
believed  them  truly  to  be,  the  very  instruments  of  the  Holy 
Gliost :  we  no  longer  obtrude  them  timidly  and  use  them 
charily. 

Now  it  is  in  the  very  nature  of  division  to  substitute  intel- 
lectual disputation  or  passionate  enthusiasm  for  devotion  pure 
and  calm,  occasional  high-wrought  effort  for  patient  waiting 
upon  God  in  ordinances  and  sacraments.  We  cannot  shut  our 
eyes  to  the  fact,  that  in  proportion  as  Church,  and  Liturgy, 
and  Sacraments  are  depreciated,  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  is  the 
present  Lord  of  the  Church  and  the  Comforter  next  at  hand, 
fades  out  of  men's  thoughts  in  the  reality  of  His  person  and 
offices,  and  becomes  to  many  but  a  force  or  an  influence,  a 
name  or  an  epithet. 

We  are  variously  affected  by  one  or  another  of  such  evils, 
according  to  our  mental  constitution  or  our  individual  cir- 
cumstances. But  the  evil  of  a  divided  Christendom,  yea  and 
of  a  divided  Protestantism,  we  unite  bitterly  to  deplore.  In 
one  sense  only  is  Protestantism  a  failure.  So  far  as  with  holy 
courage  it  challenged  errors  and  superstitions  that  had  over- 
spread the  Church,  although  not  yet  crystallized  into  decree 
and  symbol,  the  martyr-soul  was  in  it,  and  the  name  might 
honorably  be  preserved,  as  great  Captains  borrowed  a  surname 
from  their  victories.  But  when  having  denied  the  false,  it 
fails  to  affirm  the  true ;  when  having  rejected  the  usurpation, 
it  ceases  to  uphold  lawful  rule ;  when  it  seeks  to  feed  the  soul 
with  negations,  and  permits  Israel  to  be  scattered  upon  the 
hills  as  sheep"  that  have  not  a  shepherd,  thus  far  has  Protest- 
antism failed,  because  it  has  ceased  to  be  Catholic. 

Many  were  the  wrongs  inflicted  by  violent  men  upon  the 
pure  body  of  our  Lord.  They  bruised  and  lacerated  it ;  they 
Tended  His  members  and  pierced  His  side.  But  it  ^vas  written, 
and  it  was  so  fulfilled,  "  not  a  bone  of  Him  shall  be  broken." 


12 


God  guarded  the  integrity  of  that  holy  form,  so  that  there  should 
be  no  schism  in  that  sacred  body. 

Thus  it  is  with  the  Church,  His  mystical  body.  It  may  be 
lashed  with  the  scourge  of  this  world's  scorn ;  buffeted  in  its 
malice,  wounded  by  its  persecutions  ;  but  no  enemy  can  break 
its  bones  or  sunder  its  integrity.  That  dishonor  to  the  Lord 
of  life,  is  one  that  Christian  hands  alone  can  render.  The 
Bishops  at  Lambeth  did  but  give  expression  to  a  universal 
grief  when  they  declared  so  simply  and  yet  so  sadly,  "  We  de- 
sire to  express  the  deep  sorrow  with  which  we  view  the  divided 
condition  of  the  flock  of  Christ  throughout  the  world,  ardently 
longing  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  prayer  of  our  Lord  that  all 
may  be  One.'' 

2.  Along  with  the  desire  for  unity,  I  think  we  may  recog- 
nize in  the  Church  a  growing  distrust  of  all  plans  of  compre- 
hension which  are  in  anywise  disingenuous. 

We  seem  to  be  united  in  the  conviction  that  a  godly  unity 
must  be  that  which  our  Lord  entreated  of  the  Father.  It  must 
be  a  unity  spontaneous,  genuine,  visible;  a  unity  in  charity 
and  doctrine,  in  order  and  fellowship ;  a  unity  in  affirmation, 
not  in  negation.  It  is  not  a  unity  of  indifference,  of  violence, 
or  of  sentiment  and  artifice. 

And  here  the  examples  of  those  who,  in  striving  variously 
to  realize  their  ideal  of  comprehensiveness,  have  broken  off 
from  our  fellowship  and  communion,  come  to  illustrate  the 
several  theories  of  unity  which  the  sober  judgment  of  the  An-' 
glican  Church  rejects  as  false  and  illusive. 

If  we  take  the  period  within  which  our  honored  Father  in 
God  has  presided  over  the  diocese  which  now  summons  a  co- 
adjutor to  divide  with  him  its  cares  —  the  beginning  of  that 
period,  and  each  succeeding  decade,  1853, 1863,  and  1873,  have 
been  marked  by  the  separation,  voluntary  or  involuntary,  of  a 
Bishop  from  the  Anglican  communion. 

You,  brethren  of  the  diocese  of  North  Carolina,  have  not 
forgotten  the  shock  andthe  pain  when  your  gifted  Bishop,  who, 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  had  gone  in  and  out  before  you,  so 


13 


closely  allied  with  Hobart,  that  stalwart  champion  of  old 
Anglican  theology — after  tossing  many  days  upon  the  sea  of 
doubt,  emerged  only  to  hang  up  his  Episcopal  signet  as  a  votive 
offering  in  the  temple  of  one  who  claims  to  be  the  universal 
Pontiff. 

He  departed,  but  without  a  following,  and  the  diocese  ral- 
lied from  the  blow,  and  to  its  honor  gave  its  undiminished 
confidence  to  his  successor  in  that  deserted  chair.  None  has  a 
word  or  thought  of  bitterness  as  he  thinks  of  the  stranger 
•  grave  where  now  repose  the  relics  of  one  whom  North  Caro- 
lina would  once  have  dutifully  enshrined ;  the  bones  of  the 
man  of  God  still  honored  for  many  a  saying  which  he  cried 
in  the  word  of  the  Lord,"  in  his  best  days,  against  sin  and  folly. 
We  respect  "  the  trials  of  a  mind,"  disordered,  we  know  not 
how  much,  in  ite  hidden  machinery.  We  forgive  the  attempted 
injury,  and  his  good  we  bury  not  with  his  bones. 

But  how  plainly  does  it  seem,  in  view  of  subsequent  events,  . 
that  the  unity  which  he  sought  was  but  a  phantom.  He 
thought  to  find  the  peace  and  unity  of  an  unchanging  creed. 
But  among  the  early  lessons  of  the  convert  was  a  new  article : 
that  being,  by  hypothesis,  now  necessary  to  salvation,  which  was 
not  necessary  twenty  years  ago.  Nor  only  he  :  we  may  add  the 
names  of  others  in  less  exalted  position,  who  forsook  their 
mother— living  men,  although  we  almost  think  of  them  as  dead. 

What  generous  pity  possesses  us  as  we  mention  Newman, 
the  pure  and  saintly  victim  to  the  excess  of  his  sensibilities 
and  the  very  subtlety  of  his  logic  !  We  see  in  his  Apologia  the 
struggle  of  an  honest  soul  enwrapped  in  the  meshes  of  a  system 
which  is  built  on  falsehood  ;  we  see  him  still  kept  in  the  back- 
ground because  too  honest  to  be  trusted,  painfully  forcing 
himself  to  acquiesce  in  a  decree  which,  with  strange  inconsis- 
tency, he  deemed  it  unwise  for  an  infallible  authority  to  pro- 
mulgate. And  we  follow  him  tenderly  with  our  sympathies 
and  prayers  until  the  time  shall  come  for  him  to  pass  away, 
singing  his  own  sad,  sweet  song  : 

"Lead,  kindly  light!  Amid  th'  encircling  gloom, 
Lead  Thou  me  on!" 


14 


And  if  we  turn  to  another,  once  a  master  in  Israel  anions 
us,  and  on  whom  Rome  has  laden  her  utmost  honors — oh,  how 
terrible  seems  the  sacrifice  when  Manning  accepts  as  inspiration 
the  dreams  of  a  crazy  nun,  and  a  knight,  once  almost  without 
a  peer,  limps  sorely  off  the  field  where  an  unknown  champion 
has  proven  heresy  against  him,  leaving  to  his  arQiour-bearer 
professedly  the  honor,  but  in  truth  the  shame  ! 

Rome  would  indeed  give  unity  by  violently  forcing  her 
own  absolute  rule  upon  us.  Would  she  meet  us  in  the  open 
day,  it  is  hard  to  tell  with  what  indulgence  w^e  would  listen  to 
her  explanations,  and  what  concessions  of  respect  we  might  in 
high  courtesy  render  to  her  venerable  See.  But  to  her 
ultimatum  ofifered  in  despite  of  the  interpretation  of  catholic 
fathers,  re-affirmed  in  despite  of  the  thorough  exposure  by  her 
own  great  doctors  of  the  forgeries  on  which  it  rests,  that  in  the 
living  voice  of  the  Pope  speaks  out  the  Spirit  of  God,  we  have 
no  choice  but  to  reply  that  we  cannot  accept  the  subtlety  of 
Newman  by  which  assent  is  divorced  from  evidence  and 
argument,  and  that  in  point  of  fact  and  history  her  statement 
is  untrue.    That  is  no  unity  which  rests  on  falsehood. 

That  same  year  in  which  was  lost  to  us  a  Bishop  from 
North  Carolina,  witnessed  also  a  consecration  to  the  See  of 
Natal  in  Southern  Africa.  And  after  ten  years  had  elapsed, 
he  was  deposed  by  his  Metropolitan,  the  faithful  Bishop  of 
Capetown.  The  Bishops  of  our  own  Church  accepted  the 
Sentence  and  renounced  communion  with  one  who  has  ceased 
to  be  of  us,  although  the  civil  law  confirms  him  in  his  title 
and  his  See. 

And  Colenso  too  would  claim  to  be  the  Apostle  of  Unity ! 
He  too  would  work  out  his  ideal  of  genuine  catholicity,  and 
give  us  an  all-comprehending  Church  of  the  future,  a  Church 
without  a  creed. 

Some  there  are,  not  many  we  trust,  who  sympathize  with 
him,  at  least  to  the  extent  of  revolt  against  dogma,  the  demand 
for  the  privilege  of  absolute  free  thought,  the  avowed  purpose 
to  recast  theology  so  as  to  square  it  with  modern  civilization. 


15 


A  dangerous  scliool  it  is,  and  the  more  dangerous  because  it  is 
insidious.  It  wears  no  brio-ht-coloured  bado:e,  and  flaunts  no 
gay  banner  before  our  eyes  to  excite  our  passions  and  to  rouse 
our  animosity.  It  rather  steals,  in  its  cold  livery  of  grey, 
into  the  study  and  into  the  pulpit.  It  entertains  the  intellect 
and  benumbs  the  heart.  It  wastes  its  little  hour  of  public 
teaching  in  warning  men  not  to  believe  too  much,  and  sends 
them  away  with  a  dim  apprehension  that  however  the  old,  old 
story  must  needs  be  true  and  is  a  very  lovely  song  as  well, 
there  is  much  that  may  be  said  against  it.  It  may  be  that 
those  who  come  after  us  shall  have  their  (^hief  conflict  with  an 
enemy  who  already,  by  night  and  almost  unsuspected,  is 
scattering  the  tares  of  distrust,  if  not  of  unbelief. 

Such  men  would  tell  us,  there  is  a  unity  to  be  had  in  the 
recognition  of  genuine  Christianity — not  as  a  creed  or  a  corpora- 
tion, but  instead,  as  a  sublime  philosophy  and  the  purest  of 
moralities.  They  carry  somewhat  farther  the  arguments  of 
the  orthodox  who  decry  the  need  of  a  visible  unity.  So  long 
as  the  world  stands,  they  tell  us,  men  will  not  tliink  alike,  nor 
the  juries  of  the  learned  render  the  same  verdict  upon  state- 
ments of  fact  laid  before  them.  Why  rest  your  cause  upon 
the  accuracy  of  ancient  documents  which  will  continually  be 
challenged,  and  the  truth  of  miracles  which  great  thinkers  will 
not  so  much  as  notice  because  they  are  a  priori  impossible? 
The  alchemy  of  modern  science  has  learned  .to  extract  from 
almost  every  material  thing  its  hidden  virtue,  and  to  cast  the 
fibre  away.  We  are  but  dullards  and  behind  the  age  who, 
instead'of  dissecting  the  Gospel  and  enshrining  in  our  hearts 
its  sweet  essence  of  spiritual  beauty,  still  walk  about  it  lovingly, 
and  would  not  profane  its  least  significant  feature  by  a  question 
too^bold  or  a  touch  too  rude.  •  They  would  not  bar  us,  they 
say,  from  old  formulas  and  accustomed  naodes  of  speech ;  only 
we  must  utter  them  in  the  spirit  rather  than  in  the  letter. 

And  so  it  may  be,  on  this  very  day,  one -who  still  claims  to 
be  a  Bishop  of  the  Church  may  stand  up  and  say,  I  believe  in 
Him  who  was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost  and  born  of  the 


16 


Virgin  Mary,  while  he  deems  it  but  a  myth  that  the  Son  of 
God  despised  not  the  Virgin^s  womb,  and  would  strike  out 
the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  from  the  necessary  fajth  of  a 
Christian  man. 

So  utterly  repulsive  to  the  Church's  mind  is  this  unity  in 
unbelief,  and  so  heartily  did  the  Episcopate  put  aw^y  from 
among  themselves  that  wicked  person,  that  I  need  not  enter 
into  the  argument.  As  in  the  debate  with  Rome,  we  make  up 
an  issue  of  fact,  and  will  n(^t  draw  off  thence  our  forces  to  fight 
the  battle  upon  the  uncertain  field  of  speculation. 

Our  creed  is  a  recitation  not  of  opinions,  but  of  facts  which 
can  be  proven.  We  point  to  the  opened  sepulchre  and  say 
defiantly.  Here  is  the  key  to  our  position — could  you  take  that, 
there  is  nothing  left  worth  fighting  for.  We  throw  down  our 
gage  of  battle,  ^'The  Lord  is  risen  indeed,"  "declared  to  be  the 
Son  of  God,  with  power  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead." 
If  Christ  be  not  risen,  in  the  very  truth  and  letter  of  the 
story,  we  are  yet  in  our  sins :  too  miserable,  too  heart-broken 
to  give  even  a  thought  to  the  philosophy  which  would  ask 
that  piace  in  our  hearts  which  we  had  given  to  a  Saviour  and 
a  Comforter. 

Thus  one  and  another  of  the  chief  shepherds  of  the  flock 
have  invited  us  to  the. unity  of  absolutism  and  of  indifference. 
The  gate  has  closed  behind  them :  and  we  draw  farther  away 
from  their  selected  paths,  knowing  that  there  is  no  unity  with- 
out truth  :  and  they  have  not  chosen  the  way  of  truth. 

And  now,  after  another  ten  years,  we  are  offered  another 
solution  of  the  problem.  A  unity  may  be  had  without  uni- 
formity of  any  sort — a  unity  of  sentiment,  of  compromise,  of 
ingenious  artifice.  Perhaps  we  are  mistaken  after  all,  it  is 
said,  when  we  have  spoken  of  the  divisions  of  Protestantism. 
Protestantism  is  not  divided.  Its  heart  is  right;  it  is  but  the 
tongue  that  cannot  frame  to  pronounce  the  watchword  right. 
True  it  is  that  the  unity  proposed  is  partial,  and  an  anathema 
against  ancient  Churches  is  of  the  essence  of  its  scheme ;  but  it 
were  a  great  step,  they  say,  in  the  way  of  unity,  if  by  concordat 


17 


and  fraternal  intercourse  ;  if  by  filing  away  the  sharp  angles  of 
individual  disciplines  ;  if  by  a  decomposition  of  existing  forms 
and  systems,  and  the  ingenious  manipulation  of  them  by 
skilful  workmen,  some  centre  of  reconciliation  shall  be  found, 
which,  if  not  the  first  choice  of  any,  shall  yet  be  offensive  to 
none. 

The  eyes  of  the  Church  are  turned  calmly,  yet  sadly,  upon 
the  retreating  form  of  one  of  her  bishops  who  has  formally 
abandoned  her  communion.  Were  I  tempted,  as  indeed  I  am 
not,  to  utter  one  word  of  personal  disparagement,  to  use 
any  language  save  that  of  sorrow  and  of  mournful  pity,  I 
should  indeed  abuse  the  privilege  of  this  occasion  and  do  dis- 
pleasure to  my  right  reverend  brethren,  who  are  indisposed  by 
any  word  or  act  to  exceed  the  just  limits  of  their  official  duty. 

The  utter  disfavor  with  which  any  such  plan  of  comprehen-  , 
sion  has  been  regarded  by  the  Church,  is  patent  to  all.  Will 
Protestants  rally  around  a  moderate  Episcopacy  ?  We  can 
conceive  no  shade  of  moderation  in  the  Presidency  of  religious 
bodies  which  has  not  already  characterised  some  one  Christian 
community.  Nay,  so  moderate  are  its  powers  among  us  that 
it  is  said  a  bishop  cannot  with  good  conscience  abide  where  he 
must  endure  leaching  subversive  of  the  pure  Gospel,  while  he 
is  not  armed  with  the  authority  to  censure  or  to  expel  it. 

Shall  we  mend  matters  by  imparting  an  Episcopate  to  all 
who  will  accept  it  as  a  mere  regimen,  while  we  waive  its 
true  character  as  the  centre  and  conservator  of  unity  ?  Shall 
we  hope  to  bring  believers,  heterogeneous  as  before,  into  con- 
formity here,  while  the  Church  of  history  shall  still  be  regarded 
as  of  no  authority,  and  division  still  be  maintained  as  the  le- 
gitimate condition  of  God's  chosen  people  ? 

I  do  not  wonder  at  the  impatience  with  which  men  listen 
to  us  when  we  argue  the  bare  question  of  three  orders  against 
two,  or  of  Diocesan  Episcopacy  against  a  less  settled  superin- 
tendance,  while  we  keep  back  the  one  grand  spiritual  convic- 
tion which  underlies  all  polity  worth  disputing  about,  viz  : 
that  the  Church  of  Christ,  while  it  is  by  positive  institution 
2 


18 


Episcopal  and  Diocesan,  is  by  in  its  very  nature  and  essence, 
One  and  Holy,  Catholic  and  Apostolic. 

Or  again,  can  we  revise  the  Liturgy  and  define  the  cere- 
monial, so  as  to  shut  out  all  false  teachers,  and  to  conciliate  all 
Evangelical  Christians? 

Confessedly,  the  Prayer  Book  as  it  stands  is  a  marvellous 
compilation.  Long  centuries  have  contributed  the  material, 
and  in  the  sifting  of  controversy  and  trial  the  chaff  has  been 
winnowed  away.  And  yet,  nor  that  Book,  nor  any  other,  is 
of  itself  sufficient  to  preserve  the  Church  from  formalism,  as 
witness  the  dying  out  of  living  faith  in  the  Georgian  era. 
Can  another  volume  accomplish  that  result? 

Is  it  true  that  Semi-^omanism  is  likely  to  overmaster  our 
Church,  and  that  it  may  be  resisted  more  successfully  under  a 
new  organization? 

We  will  unite  to  deny  the  unbelieving  proverb,  "  Error  is 
impotent  for  mischief  so  long  as  reason  is  left  free  to  combat 
it.''  But  we  may  give  it  a  Christian  paraphrase,  and  so  adopt 
it.  Error  is  impotent  to  usurp  dominion  in  the  Church,  when 
that  Church  is  instinct  with  devout  affection  and  abundant  in 
good  works  and  alms-deeds. 

When,  since  the  days  of  the  early  martyrs,  has  there  been 
seen  a  Church  more  alive  than  ours,  in  her  several  branches,  to 
her  high  responsibilities?  AYhen  have  the  Holy  Scriptures 
been  searched  more  profoundly  and  devoutly?  When  has 
there  been  a  more  earnest  outreach  into  the  highways  and 
hedges,  to  bring  the  very  beggars  to  the  feast?  When,  a 
more  earnest  aspiration  of  individual  souls  to  attain  a  higher 
spirituality?  Error  may  trouble,  but  it  cannot  cast  down  a 
Church  that  lives  and  works  in  earnest.  Error  cannot  long 
survive  in  the  pure  atmosphere  of  practical  godliness. 

Human  policy  would  indeed  lend  its  aid  to  holy  truth,  as 
Saul  proffered  his  armour  to  David.  Take  these  weapons  and 
defences,  if  says.  Purchase  advowsons,  subsidize  missionaries 
and  poor  priests,  add  conditions  to  your  charities,  hold  your 
secret  consultations :  but  the  faithful  warrior  has  no  experience 


19 


of  them  all,  and  is  content  to  risk  the  contest  upon  the  right 
of  his  cause  and  the  protection  of  his  God. 

Or,  again,  shall  Christian  unity  be  promoted  by  taking 
away  from  the  Holy  Communion  all  its  ornaments  and  its 
safeguards?  You  may  discard  the  Surplice  and  the  Priest, 
but  strife  is  re-opened  just  so  soon  as  you  draw  any  line  of 
distinction,  and  require  any  authority  of  any  sort  in  him  who 
presides :  for  the  notion  of  a  priestly  caste  in  any  sense,  how- 
ever modified,  is  offensive  to  many  who  call  themselves  Bible 
Christians. 

Remove  the  successive  steps  by  which  we  now  ascend  so 
gradually  to  the  height  of  Eucharistic  praise :  the  enunciation 
of  the  law,  the  exhortation,  the  confession,  the  Tei'  SanctuSy 
the  prayer  of  humble  access,  and  what  have  you  left  ? 

The  late  Dean  of  Canterbury  has  described  in  an  instance 
now  notable,  the  reality  of  what  we  have  imagined. 

"It  had  been  announced  that  on  Sunday,  September  13th, 
at  nine,  the  English  Christians  present  at  Berlin  to  attend  the 
Conference,  would  receive  the  Holy  Communion  together,  how 
or  at  what  hands  was  not  stated. 

"  I  and  my  family  went  as  recipients,  and  as  such  I  had 
taken  my  place.  *  *  *  After  a  few  minutes,  some  one 
whom  I  did  not  then  know,  asked  whether  I  would  assist  in 
distributing  the  elements,  adding  that  it  was  intended  merely 
to  read  1  Cor.  xi :  23-26,  and  distribute  the  bread  and  wine 
in  silence,  such  being  the  only  ground  on  which  all  could  meet 
in  the  celebration." 

Ah !  if  such  be  indeed  the  only  ground  on  which  men 
can  stand  together ;  if  even  in  showing  forth  the  Lord's  death, 
men  must  with  rigid  compression  of  the  lip  repress  the  cry  of 
penitence,  the  declaration  of  absolving  love,  the  song  of  grati- 
tude— if  this  be  all  the  flame  that  united  piety  can  kindle,  there 
is  no  hope  that  the  family  of  God  will  gather  around  a  hearth 
so  cold. 

Our  departed  or  departing  brethren  have  thrown  no  light 
upon  the  solution  of  the  great  problem  of  unity.    We  believe 


20 


with  one,  that  true  unity  is  to  be  found  in  organic  form,  under 
the  restraints  of  a  kingdom  visible,  and  wearing  the  badges  of 
authority  :  but  we  deny  that  in  the  See  of  Rome  is  concentrated 
the  universal  episcopate. 

We  consent  with  another  that  the  Church  must  not  bar  out 
light  from  whatever  quarter  it  may  come,  and  that  we  must 
yield  large  indulgence  to  diversities  of  intelligence  and  of 
judgment:  but  we  will  not,  even  for  unity,  yield  one  iota  of 
the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints. 

We  yield  to  none  in  our  reverence  for  saintly  men,  our 
admiration  of  heroic  deeds,  the  ready  response  of  our  hearts 
to  the  music  they  bring  from  harps  not  attuned  as  ours.  But 
we  dare  not  forsake  the  ark  of  God's  own  fashioning,  nor  hope 
that  any  new  combination  of  its  materials  will  make  it  a  more 
inviting  refuge  to  the  anxious  souls  around  us. 

Do  we  then  coldly  frown  upon  all  the  generous  impulses 
wliich  move  Christian  men  to  propose  terms  of  conciliation, 
while  we  have  nothing  of  our  own  to  oflPer?  Let  me  reserve 
for  the  present  the  answer  to  this  question ;  for  it  is  necessary 
here  to  invite  attention  to  the  fact  that : 

3.  Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  the  Anglican  Com- 
munion at  the  present  day  than  the  Eirenic  tone  which  per- 
vades her  controversial  books  and  her  official  utterances. 

It  was  the  sad  fortune  of  the  Church  of  England  for  a  long 
period  after  the  Reformation  to  be  unwillingly  a  combatant. 
She  had  need  to  contend  for  her  very  life  against  Romanist 
and  Puritan,  and  Independent  and  Deist.  Her  greatest  and 
gentlest  divines  were  men  of  war.  But  as  her  position  has 
become  assured,  it  is  seen  that  thoughts  of  peace  are  most  con- 
genial to  her  gentle  heart. 

Her  conferences  w^ith  Eastern  ecclesiastics,  and  the  fairness 
with  which  she  meets  the  question  of  the  Filioque,  show  that 
she  is  ready  to  yield  to  those  ancient  Churches  all  the  respect 
they  may  rightly  ask. 

A  marked  change  has  come  over  her  controversy  with  the 
Church  of  Rome ;  and  to  the  most  inexorable  of  her  adversaries, 


21 


her  most  learned  theologian  tenders  an  Eirenicon.  I  presume 
none  of  us  endorse  the  most  notable  of  these  overtures,  nor 
view  with  favour  the  proposition  to  reconcile  the  decrees  of 
Trent  and  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  by  mutual  explanations. 
And  yet  hopeless  as  seems  any  accommodation,  more  hopeless 
now  than  ever  by  an  action  which  the  author  of  the  Eirenicon 
could  not  bring  himself  to  believe  was  in  the  range  of  possi- 
bility, who  among  us  but  sympathizes  with  the  spirit  that  would 
find,  even  in  Rome,  instances  in  which  the  practical  supersti- 
tion has  far  outrun  the  formal  teaching  which  is  supposed  to 
authorize  it?  Stoutly  as  we  maintain  our  stand  against  her 
errors,  and  re-affirm  our  protest  against  her  every  article  of 
faith  which  is  not  in  the  ancient  creeds,  yet  how  have  we  risen 
above  the  narrowness  of  denouncing  everything  that  is  of 
Rome  because  it  is  Roman  !  How  conscious  are  we  of  a  fair- 
ness and  a  charity  which  make  us  glad  to  praise  her  every 
work  of  love  and  mercy  in  this  sorrowful  world ! 

But  especially  has  the  heart  of  the  Church  yearned  over 
the  children  who  once  called  her  mother,  and  most  honestly 
does  she  strive  to  judge  righteous  judgment,  rather  than  to 
blame  and  to  criminate  them. 

When  William  Archer  Butler,  thirty  years  ago,  wrought 
out  his  noble  sermon,  "  Church  principles  not  inconsistent  with 
Christian  charity,'^  the  Church  was  moved  and  the  echo  of  his 
words  stirred  many  a  Christian  soul.  Not  that  he  persuaded 
us  of  anything  that  we  did  not  hold  before,  but  that  he  gave 
clear  and  forcible  expression  to  the  very  thought  which  less 
gifted  men  knew  not  how  to  frame  in  sentences  exact  and  clear. 

It  would  be  no  hard  task  to  give  a  catena  of  authorities 
from  that  day  to  this,  including  our  most  illustrious  names, 
extracts  from  Episcopal  charges  and  books  of  controversy, 
debates  in  the  Convocation,  the  Church  Congress  and  the 
General  Convention,  Bampton  Lectures  and  occasional  sermons, 
all  to  the  same  effect:  all  declaring  that  in  their  unswerving 
attachment  to  a  Church  of  history,  so  far  from  their  hearts 
being  hardened  against  other  Christian  people,  they  rejoiced  to 


22 


see  so  often  among  them  the  loveliest  graces  of  the  Spirit,  and 
would  deem  the  treasury  of  the  Church  enriched  could  it  win 
to  itself  the  wealth  of  mind  and  learning,  of  eloquence  and 
zeal,  of  saintly  deeds  and  tempers  which  belong  to  those  who 
walk  not  with  us,  and  who  even  imagine  that  we  doubt  them 
and  avoid  them.  I  would  that  the  time  allowed  me  to  illustrate 
the  truth  of  this  statement,  to  quote  the  generous  words  of 
Samuel  Wilberforce  to  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans,  the 
various  tributes  to  the  Wesleys  and  Nonconformists  who 
preceded  them,  the  outspoken  yet  kindly  address  of  the  Bishop 
of  St.  Andrews  to  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland.  Surely  the 
time  must  come  when  Christian  men  will  see  that  their  best 
friends  are  not  those  who  force  an  unnatural  intimacy,  but 
those  who,  although  too  honest  to  lay  aside  a  conviction  for  a 
courtesy,  recognise  with  manly  frankness  and  fraternal  love 
all  the  good  that  God  hath  wrought  in  them  and  by  them. 

How  fairly  do  we  seem  now  to  review  the  controversies  of 
the  past !  How  honestly  do  we  recognize  the  great  blame  that 
has  lain  upon  us,  the  mistakes  in  policy,  the  defect  of  patience 
that  caused  us  to  drive  out,  or  to  suffer  to  depart  unhindered, 
not  a  few  who,  if  more  gently  and  prudently  treated,  might 
have  lent  their  zeal  to  kindle  a  brighter  flame  upon  an  altar 
that  had  waxed  cold !  How  have  we  come  to  interpret  the 
providences  of  God  as  in  part  a  condemnation  of  our  own 
supineness :  seeing  that  He  permitted  others  to  take  out  of  our 
hands  the  work  which  we  had  done  slackly  and  negligently ! 

Yes,  we  see  everywhere  in  the  Church  the  gentle  move- 
ment of  a  considerate  charity — not  the  spurious  counterfeit 
which  teaches  the  indifference  of  modes  of  faith,  but  the 
manlier  grace  which  rejoices  not  in  error,  and  hides  not  its 
tears  at  the  rent  in  the  vestment  which  was  not  framed  to  be 
divided ;  while  yet  it  has  a  longing  for  the  return  of  those  in 
separation,  and  a  blessing  for  all  them  that  love  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  sincerity. 

Truth  and  candor  require  us  to  avow  that  there  is  such  a 
sin  as  schism,  and  to  tell  men  whom  we  greatly  love  and 


23 


value,  that  they  are  in  separation  from  the  Catholic  Church. 
But  then  how  slow  are  we  to  charge  upon  any  the  material 
guilt  of  schism  !  We  realize  that  it  is  the  influence  of  educa- 
tion, the  power  of  tradition,  the  reverence  for  the  best  examples 
available,  which  oftenest  determine  the  ecclesiastical  relation  of 
men  who  would  be  the  very  last  to  revolt  against  the  ordi- 
nance of  their  Lord.  We  seem,  as  we  trace  the  golden  thread 
of  the  Church's  continuity  from  its  beginning,  to  find  it  no 
hard  matter  to  follow  it  through  all  the  perplexities  of  the 
past;  and  we  sympathize  profoundly  with  the  upright  man,  who 
having  no  such  clue,  surveying  only  a  confused  and  tangled 
web  of  doctrines  and  of  methods,  despairs  of  extricating  the 
exact  truth  from  its  disorders,  and  so  hiys  hold  upon  that  fila- 
ment which  is  most  commended  to  him  by  early  association,  or 
best  pleases  his  sense  of  spiritual  beauty. 

If  we  cannot  concede  that  others  possess  gifts  which  we 
claim  for  ourselves,  we  are  far  from  disparaging  the  worth  of 
what  they  do  possess.  We  have,  to  the  point  of  weariness, 
repelled  the  charge  that  we  deny  the  existence  of  grace  out- 
side the  limits  of  the  duly  organized  Church.  We  may 
affirm,  as  Haddam  in  his  Apostolical  Succession,  "  not  censo- 
riously or  boastingly,  but  with  a  humble  recognition  of  God's 
goodness,  that  the  broad  history  of  each  community  of  Chris- 
tians is  actually  marked  by  a  degree  and  purity  of  belief,  and 
by  a  .tone  and  depth  of  spirituality,  proportioned  to  its  near- 
ness to,  or  distance  from  the  full  possession  of  God's  truth  and 
order."  But  for  all  that,  we  recognize  in  communities  who 
have  much  diverged,  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  who  illumines 
and  convinces,  who  regenerates  and  sanctifies.  In  the  words 
of  the  same  author,  ^'  there  are  earnest  Christian  men  in  every 
sect  that  cling  to  the  broad  foundations  of  Gospel  truth.  And 
the  Churchman  may  often  feel,  that  he  himself  must  watch 
and  labor  and  pray  if  he  would  rival  many  a  Dissenter  in 
spi/ituality  or  in  holiness." 

I  might  add  that  this  Eirenic  temper  shows  itself  in  the 
cheerful  recognition  of  the  wisdom  and  ingenuity  exhibited 


24 


by  many  a  sect  in  adapting  its  methods  to  present  needs.  For 
methods  are  not  of  Divine  prescription,  and  the  Church  in 
every  age  has  need  to  vary  her  expedients.  We  would  not,  if 
we  could,  abridge  a  just  liberty,  or  forbid  the  experiments  for 
good,  not  inconsistent  with  adherence  to  great  principles, 
which  experience  has  shown  to  be  effective  for  the  promulga- 
tion of  truth  and  the  edifying  of  believers. 

The  Anglican  Communion  does  not  desire,  as  some  sup- 
pose, to  force  her  own  exact  type  upon  the  whole  Christian 
world.  Witness  how  she  has  forborne  to  embarrass  the  Old 
Catholics  with  officious  help,  and  how  general  the  conviction, 
often  expressed,  that  the  Reformation  they  have  inaugurated 
should  be,  not  a  servile  copy  of  our  own,  but  a  discreet  and 
gradual  restoration  of  their  own  ancient  German  Church. 

And  as  for  the  absorption  bodily  of  large  Protestant  commu- 
nions, an  ambition  imputed  to  us,  the  suggestion  of  which  is  so 
offensive  to  those  who  claim  to  be  our  equals  or  our  superiors 
in  numbers,  we  may  answer,  Judge  nothing  before  the  time. 

Whenever  a  blessed  truce  of  God  shall  be  proclaimed; 
whenever  the  leading  denominations  of  Protestantism  shall 
agree  with  us  in  the  brief  protocol,  Divmon  must  be  exchanged 
for  Unity,  and  Unity  must  be  sought  upon  the  basis  of  truth 
AND  FACT,  does  any  believe  we  shall  meet  them  by  a  prelim- 
inary demand  to  accept  articles  and  rubrics  and  mere  Anglican 
interpretations?  No.  If  the  Church  of  that  day  is  minded  as 
that  of  the  present,  she  will  meet  them  on  terms  the  most  con- 
sistent Avith  their  self-respect.  She  will  consent  to  go  back  with 
them  to  periods  which  antedate  the  modern  strife,  and  to  drink 
with  them  the  pure  waters  of  truth  nearest  to  the  fountain- 
spring.  The  things  clearly  ordained  of  God  and  stamped  wdth 
the  seal  of  universal  acceptance  for  a  thousand  years,  she  may 
not  yield  without  disloyalty.  She  will  calmly  and  honestly 
go  into  the  inquiry  what  these  are.  And  outside  of 'these,  in 
all  that  is  doubtful,  in  all  that  is  of  mere  human  expediency, 
I  verily  believe  she  would  exercise  her  utmost  ingenuity,  her 
largest  tenderness,  to  comprehend  all  and  to  humiliate  none. 


25 


Let  it  not  be  thought  that  the  Church  is  content  to  look 
coldly  on  all  efforts  to  promote  concord,  as  well-meant  but 
abortive :  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  because  she  has  not  yet 
seen  the  auspicious  moment  for  proposing  a  detailed  scheme  of 
unity,  that  she  surrenders  the  problem  as  insoluble.  Far 
from  it :  and  thus  we  come  to  observe  : 

4.  That  the  Anglican  communion  has  not  lost  faith  in  the 
possibility  of  unity,  and  that  she  has  her  own  distinct  concep- 
tion of  the  means  by  which  it  can  be  promoted. 

And  here,  brethren,  I  rejoice  to  fall  back  upon  the  authori- 
tative, I  may  even  say  the  unanimous  declaration  of  the  living 
Episcopate:— "ARDENTLY  LONGING,"  they  said  at 
Lambeth,  "  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  prayer  of  our  Lord  that 
they  all  may  be  One." 

Unity  is  not  a  lovely  dream,  a  cloud-picture  in  the  sky.  It 
may  be,  and  it  must  be,  a  blessed  reality  in  God's  good  time. 
That  which  is  impossible  with  men  is  possible  with  God. 
He  maketh  men  to  be  of  one  mind  in  an  house.  It  was  as 
hard  eighteen  centuries  ago  as  it  is  now  for  men  to  think  alike 
and  work  together. 

The  world  was  no  less  divided  then  than  now  in  its  beliefs 
and  speculations  ;  and  yet  by  the  mighty  power  of  God's  Holy 
Spirit,  all  were  won  to  the  same  confession  and  brought  into 
the  same  communion  — yes,  all,  in  spite  of  their  antagonisms  of 
taste  and  opinion.  Pharisees  who  looked  for  a  Resurrection, 
and  Saflducees  who  believed  not  angel  or  spirit;  Jews  who  had 
overlaid  the  law  with  vain  traditions,  and  Samaritans  who -re- 
jected all  Scripture  save  the  Pentateuch;  dreamy  Asiatics, 
subtle  Greeks,  self-reliant  Romans,  wild  Barbarians,  with  all 
their  vain  deceits  of  Polytheism  and  Pantheism  and  supersti- 
tion. The  early  missionaries  of  the  Cross,  like  ourselves,  "  ar- 
dently longed  for  "  unity,  and  oh  !  how  far  more  desperate 
was  the  outlook  to  them  than  to  ourselves. 

We  have  seen,  too,  how  ephemeral  are  controversies  the  most 
virulent.  We  can  scarce  realize  that  there  ever  was  a  time 
when  men  were  violently  excited  over  a  cross-sign  on  a  baby's 


26 


brow,  a  ring  upon  the  finger  of  a  bride,  or  the  choice  between 
black  ami  red  in  a  bishop^s  robe.  The  battle  between  Calvin- 
ism and  Arminianisra,  whose  roar  once  almost  deafened  Protes- 
tant communities,  has  already  sunk  into  a  harmless  fusilade, 
and  could  be  relegated  into  the  domain  of  mere  theological 
opinion  if  there  were  no  other  bar  to  unity. 

And  even  in  our  own  brief  day,  we  see  the  questions  of  in- 
strumental music  and  church  architecture,  of  festival  days,  of 
forms  of  devotion  and  attitudes  in  prayer,  fast  losing  their 
interest  and  their  sigaificance.  And  who  can  tell  how  soon 
men  will  weary  of  experiments  in  church-making,  and  by  some 
strong  reaction  begin  to  ask  why  was  ever  thrown  aside  an 
order  confessedly  ancient,  if  not  authoritative,  to  which  no  Re- 
former raised  exception  save  in  its  abuses,  and  which  has  served 
as  nothing  else  has  served,  as  a  centre  of  unity  for  all  Christ- 
loving  people  ? 

"  We  solemnly  record  our  conviction"  said  the  Bishops  in 
that  same  Conference,  "that  unity  will  he  most  effectually  promoted 
by  maintaining  the  Faith  in  its  purity  and  integrity,  as  taught 
'  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  held  by  the  Primitive  Church,  summed 
up  in  the  Creeds,  and  affirmed  by  the  undisputed  General 
Councils  ;  and  by  drawing  each  of  us  closer  to  our  common  Lord, 
by  giving  ourselves  to  much  prayer  and  intercession,  by  the 
cultivation  of  a  spirit  of  charity,  and  a  love  of  the  Lord's 
appearing." 

And  the  world  exclaimed.  Oh  lame  and  impotent  conclusion  ! 
Were  ye  born  in  mighty  ships,  O  ye  Bishops  !  from  every 
quarter  of  the  globe,  leaving  each  his  few  sheep  in  the 
wilderness,  and  did  you  come  forth  from  your  high  consultation 
to  tell  us  this  only,  that  to  promote  unity  we  must  hold  the 
faith,  and  give  ourselves  to  prayer  and  cultivate  brotherly  love 
and  watch  for  the  Lord's  coming  ?  Will  the  giant  of  discord 
yield  to  these  trite  pebbles  from  the  brook,  so  void  of  points 
and  angles  ? 

Such  taunts  disturb  us  not.  It  is  not  by  might,  not  by 
power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord.    To  win  back 


27 


Pentecostal  unity  we  need  not  human  wit,  but  only  the  Pente- 
costal flame ;  and  truth  has  not  grown  decrepid  by  reason  of 
age,  nor  faith  rusted  by  long  use,  nor  has  love  lost  its  holy  art 
to  purify  and  weld  together,  nor  the  cry  "Behold,  I  come 
quickly,"  its  power  to  draw  men  upwards  above  the  lower  air 
of  strife. 

Other  experiments  have  been  tried,  have  failed,  and  have 
been  renewed  again.  So  sweet  is  the  vision  of  unity  that  in 
gatherings  of  anxious  men,  when  the  spiritual  aspiration  rose 
above  the  stern  limitations  of  fact,  they  seemed  to  see  the  dear 
phantom  taking  to  itself  material  form  and  substance ;  and 
they  have  cried  in  an  exstacy,  "  We  have  been  vainly  seeking  for 
what  was  never  lost :  we  were  always  one,  and  are,  only  we 
knew  it  not."  But  alas  !  the  grey  dawn  showed  only  a  secret 
rift  beneath  the  calm  ;  another  disintegration  begun  in  that  hour 
of  harmony ;  and  the  blessed  vision  of  peace,  it  was  even  "  as 
when  an  hungry  man  dreameth  and  behold  he  eateth,  but  he 
awaketh  and  his  soul  is  empty ;  or  as  when  a  thirsty  man 
dreameth  and  behold  he  drinketh,  but  he  awaketh  and  behold 
he  is  faint  and  his  soul  hath  appetite." 

Yes,  the  day  will  surely  come  when  this  Anglican  experi- 
ment, despised  because  of  its  very  wisdom,  shall  be  weighed 
and  acted  upon.  I  see  godly  men  assembled  here  and  there, 
with  the  books  open  in  their  midst — the  books  which  alone 
contain  the  revelation  of  God's  truth  to  man,  the  living 
oracles,  and  besides  them  the  records  of  early  Councils,  the 
scroll  of  the  world-wide  Creed,  the  writings  of  holy  Bishops 
and  Martyrs.  I  see  them  searching  patiently  therein,  not  to 
confirm  a  private  opinion,  but  to  ascertain  the  truth  original. 
Mindful  of  their  lack  of  wisdom,  the  "  Veni  Creator  Spiritus  " 
is  often  on  their  lips ;  with  patient  charity  each  man  tarries  for 
him  who  is  dull  in  sight  and  slow  of  heart.  And  ever  and 
anon  they  say  one  to  another,  "  Make  haste,  my  brother.  The 
Master  is  almost  come,  and  calling  to  us.  Shame,  thrice  shame 
upon  us,  should  he  not  find  the  Israel  of  God  in  martial 
array,  the  ark  of  God  in  the  midst,  and  each  tribe  in  its  place  ; 


28 


an  array  so  orderly  and  so  beautiful  that  the  very  angels  shall 
say,  Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to 
dwell  together  in  unity." 

Or  if  there  shall  never  be  any  such  concourse,  if  unity 
shall  come  by  acclamation,  by  the  rapid  'drawing  of  Christian 
souls  together  when  suddenly  the  last  link  of  pride  and  preju- 
dice is  sundered,  still  may  each  one  of  us  best  labor  for  it  in 
honest  study  and  in  prayer,  in  a  life  of  holy  striving,  and  in 
hopeful  expectation  of  the  advent  of  Him  who  can,  if  He 
will,  turn  the  hearts  of  His  people  back  again. 

In  this  discussion,  my  brethren,  I  have  had  need  to  make 
mention  of  individual  men,  for  it  is  individuals  who  guide 
religious  movements ;  and  indeed  the  Episcopate  is  but  an 
illustration  of  that  which  everywhere  meets  us  in  the  history 
of  the  race  and  of  the  Church,  the  wonderful  significance  for 
evil  or  for  good  of  individual  men. 

As  we  stand  in  this  chancel,  the  eye  is  naturally  attracted 
to  the  tablet  which  bears  the  honored  name  of  Ravenscroft. 
And  the  most  impressive  line  in  the  inscription  is  that  which 
tells  the  period  of  his  service.  Seven  years  only  did  its  first 
Bishop  preside  over  this  diocese  :  and  yet  how  broad  and  inef- 
faceable upon  the  whole  Church  is  the  impress  of  that  brief 
Episcopate  !  How  is  the  likeness  of  that  rugged,  indomitable, 
courageous  old  man,  with  his  great  loving  heart,  and  his  con- 
tempt for  all  sham  and  artifice,  stamped  upon  his  work  ! 

Nor  can  we  fail  to  bethink  us.  Right  Reverend  Brethren, 
as  we  confer  our  high  ofiice  upon  another,  of  him  who  so 
graced  it  in  our  Mother  Church  of  England,  who  never  failed 
to  give  to  an  American  Bishop  the  warm  greeting  of  a  brother. 

For  in  him  whom  we  knew  as  Samuel  of  Oxford,  there 
fell  a  great  man  and  a  Prince  in  Israel.  A  great  man,  in  that 
he  filled  out  so  grandly  the  measure  of  his  office;  a  Prince, 
and  a  Poet  too,  in  the  loftiest  meaning  of  the  word,  in  that  he 
invented  and  framed  for  himself,  for  his  contemporaries  and 
for  those  who  come  after,  so  lofty  an  ideal,  so  elevated  a  con- 
ception of  what  a  Bishop  may  be  among  English-speaking 


29 


people  in  this  nineteenth  century.  For  while  our  office  is 
the  same  in  all  its  essential  features,  everywhere  and  at  all 
times,  there  is  room  for  utmost  wisdom  and  skill  in  the  de- 
velopment of  its  functions,  and  the  adaptation  of  them  to  the 
society  in  which  we  minister. 

In  the  American  Church  we  have  need  not  only  to  make 
full  proof  of  our  Episcopate,  but  to  perfect  its  ideal.  As  we 
call  over  the  roll  of  the  living  and  the  dead,  and  the  many 
various  types  of  their  administration  ;  if  we  confine  our  enu- 
meration even  to  those  who  in  the  Southern  States  were  most 
intimately  thrown  together  —  Polk,  the  enthusiast  in  behalf 
of  sound  learning  under  the  Church's  holy  guidance,  so  gener- 
ous and  noble  in  his  aims,  even  if  he  erred  in  his  judgment;  Otey, 
the  faithful  missionary,  simple-hearted  as  a  child ;  Elliott, 
the  gentle  scholar  and  persuasive  preacher ;  Cobbs,  the  faith- 
ful pleader  from  house  to  house,  who  made  every  man's  grief 
his  own  —  howbeit  we  may  not  mechanically  imitate  any  of 
them,  we  realize  that  the  Episcopate  is  not  without  its  pat- 
terns and  examples,  from  which  we  may  derive  instruction, 
as  we  strive. in  our  turn  wisely  to  feed  the  Church  of  God, 
over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  made  us  overseers. 

To  this  high  office,  you,  my  brother,  bring  the  culture  of 
years,  the  maturity  of  a  ripened  experience,  the  large  observa- 
tion of  one  w^ho  has  ministered  where  either  ocean  washes  this 
continent,  while  your  residence  and  service  in  foreign  countries 
have  taught  you  to  look  upon  the  things  of  others,  and  to 
know  the  Church  in  the  breadth  of  its  Catholicity,  and  in  all 
the  variety  of  its  administrations. 

And  the  work  to  which  you  are  now  called  is  worthy  of 
the  utmost  exercise  of  all  your  talents.  It  is  a  goodly  flock 
the  oversight  of  which  you  are  called  to  share,  yet  needing 
now  more  than  ever,  in  its  comparative  poverty,  the  inspira- 
tion of  hopeful  leaders  and  the  encouragement  of  a  sympathiz- 
ing Bishop. 

Much  of  your  work  must  be  what  the  world  would  call 
commonplace  and  uninviting.    For  North  Carolina  is  still  a 


30 


Missionary  Diocese,  equal  in  its  missionary  demands  to  such 
as  claim  the  attention  of  the  Church,  yet  lacking  in  the 
romance  of  a  new  country,  and  without  the  material  aid  which 
new  territories  in  the  very  nature  of  things  must  chiefly 
claim. 

You  are  now  to  identify  yourself  with  your  people,  to  live 
with  them  and  for  them,  to  be  their  frequent  guest,  their  un- 
wearied teacher.  You  are  to  win  their  reverence  and  their 
love,  or  rather  to  secure  a  confidence  and  an  affection  which 
they  unite  to  pledge  you  in  advance.  You  will  be  mighty  in 
your  influence  among  them  in  proportion  as  you  are  strong 
in  loving,  patient  sympathy  for  them,  and  diligent  in  labours 
in  their  behalf. 

We  bid  you  welcome  to  a  share  in  the  responsibilities  and 
the  high  privileges  of  this  sacred  trust.  May  the  Holy  Ghost, 
as  He  imparts  to  you  the  official  gift,  increase  in  you  as  well 
the  spirit  of  power  and  love  and  of  a  sound  mind  !  May  you 
follow  worthily  in  the  steps  of  the  illustrious  men  who,  in 
long  line  from  early  days,  have  ruled  the  flock  prudently, 
with  all  their  power !  May  your  Episcopate  reflect  even  more 
than  that  of  those  who  have  preceded  you,  the  likeness  of 
that  Good  Shepherd  who  gave  His  life  for  the  sheep  ! 


CALL  MUMBER 


Vol 


^^ate  (for  periodical) 
Copy  Mo. 


204    Z99     1860-99    v.  1 

no. 1-16  P61611 


